Hospital Bills

They thought that their life is finally back on track, but it was just an illusion until one day. It was the day of her graduation when she was finally done with her graduation and can start searching for a full-time job where she will earn decent money and they didn’t have to worry about anything.

 It was the best day of her life, and she wanted to celebrate this news and this very special day with her little sister, Ritika. Therefore, she wanted to reach home in a heartbeat. But when she reached home and opened the door, she found her sister on the floor unconscious.

She immediately brought her to the hospital. Seeing, her condition, the doctor immediately pushed her into the ward and ran different tests on her. Dharna sat on one of the chairs while the doctor examined her inside the ward. 

Around after an hour, the doctor came out of the room with a grim expression on his face. “What is it, doctor?” She asked. 

The doctor looked at her and spoke. “We had run numerous tests on her and all tests had come positive”. 

Dharna didn’t know what he was talking about. So, she asked “What is it? Doctor, what are the results”?

“Your sister has gastric cancer. It is also known as stomach cancer”. The doctor told her politely. 

After hearing this, Dharna didn’t know how to react. She kept looking at the doctor numbly. 

“Miss Vias”. the doctor called for her when he didn’t get any response from her, even after some time. He shook her shoulders lightly. 

She came to her senses and looked at the doctor before she asked, “Doctor, how can this happen? She was very healthy and eat healthy food as well. She had just a mild fever for four days and vomited yesterday. I… I had given her medicine, and she was alright when I left her at home in the morning. Then, how can…  this”.

she started to cry before she could even finish the sentence. The doctor patted her shoulder. “Please Miss, Vyas, controls your emotions. It is not too late. We have the treatment, and she will be fine after that”.

 When Dharna heard this, she looked at the doctor again, her eyes were full of hope. “Do you mean that my sister can be saved with treatment?”

 When the doctor saw that she has stopped crying. He nodded his hand and spoke. “Please come to my office. We will discuss it further there”.

 With that, he started to walk to his office. Dharna gave one last look to her sister, who was lying unconscious on the hospital bed with different machines connected to her body through wires. 

She choked into sobs again and put her hand on her mouth to stop herself from crying further then she followed the doctor and reached his office. The doctor first told her to sit and then offered a glass of water to her, which she accepted half-heartedly. 

She took two sips of water from the glass only before putting down the glass. The doctor sat on his cheer in front of her and opened the file, which contained Ritika’s report. Then he spoke. 

“Miss Vyas. Your sister has gastric cancer, as I told you earlier, but she will be fine with the treatment”.

“Then what are you waiting for? Doctor, let’s start with the treatment”.

Dharna spoke in a heartbeat. 

“Yes, we will start with the treatment soon. But I want to tell you that the treatment is a bit expensive as she is in the third stage, which requires surgery as well. Although it is not dangerous for the time being, but it required surgery within a year”.

 Then Dhana looked at the doctor and spoke. “Then what are we getting? Well, let’s do the surgery and treat her”.

 Then the doctor spoke again. “Miss. Vyas, I want to tell you that combining with the expenses of surgery and treatment will cost you around $70,000. And it excludes medicines and other hospital bills”.

 Hearing this, Dhana was still. where would she get this amount of money? To save the savings of their parents had left for them, she started to do multiple jobs and started earning a decent amount which was enough to live a normal and decent life. Their savings are only $20,000 around. From where she will get an extra $50,000 for surgery and also to cover the hospital bills and medicines?

Dharna was in a dilemma.